HalfLife 3: Liberation
by Gothic-Warrior
Summary: Did the destruction of Breen and City 17 inflict a major blow to the Combine presence on Earth? Or was their false intelligence...but was it all on purpose? A blockbuster finale to the series.
1. Prelude to Disaster

Black. Darkness filled the infinite void around him, the physicist who saved the world…supposedly. Gordon Freeman, still in his metal HEV suit, stood there, not moving. After all, what was there to do? After saving the world, encountering mad priests, and going face to face with the person that had hired you in the first place in a very climactic duel, what else could someone want but rest? This seemed like it would last long for the physicist, since it has been an eternity, or at least was like one, since the Gman had put Gordon in this place. Since he last saw Alyx, Eli, and Mossman…oh, that could've been ages ago. But he didn't know. He didn't even know how long he was in there. Then again, he didn't know a lot of things about this…

"Hello, Gordon"

The Gman stood right in front of Freeman. His well-groomed hair, which was normally gray, seemed invisible in the blackness of the space. Freeman could only stare at the odd fellow in his usual blank stare.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it, Mister Freeman?" For some odd reason, the man smiled as he gave his regular speech at the MIT graduate. "What…probably a few months since we parted yet again, this time at City 17? Well…this isn't much of a new mission…in fact, it's the same one. However…there were complications that had happened while I put you in stasis again…this time, things got worse." Gman seemed nervous in telling Freeman this. He knew that the doctor did not want to continue with these random missions, but in order to protect the world, they had to continue.

"Well, now to our problem. As you remembered, you just destroyed City 17's Dark Energy Reactor. Now, we originally calculated that this would get the rebellion around the world to go into full motion. That was not the case. Austria, which is where City 17 was, and the rest of Europe, for that matter, is now safe and in the hands of Eli, Alyx, Judith, and other members of Black Mesa East. But…we failed to recognize that Breen was not the only person to worry about. There were 6 others in some elaborate deal with the Combine to have Black Mesa happen. As you know, Breen was the person to force you to do the experiment that caused everything to happen. The other 6, however, got the necessary materials, planned out how it would be executed, sort through deals with the Combine…but that stuff is not important, now. And they also planned to use you as the puppet…the one who started this from the very beginning. They used you as their tool, and now, I would believe that you want to get some revenge on them, no?"

Freeman was silent. He had a feeling that he was being used, and he didn't care about that. Well, he did, just not as much as that there are still 6 others like the Administrator, Dr. Breen, out there, controlling the Combine rule and making sure that he, Gordon Freeman, would get killed on sight.

"Well, now, that the time is not as urgent, I guess I should fill you in on exactly what happened, and why the Combine are here today…"

In a large, eye-burning flash, they instantly teleported out of the darkness Gordon had been accustomed to. Now, Gordon saw that he was standing above his old workplace, located inside a New Mexican plateau. It looked like it had the day he first arrived…it looked like that day had never happened.

"Now, Mr. Freeman," Gman started to explain the events AFTER Gordon had left the planet. "As you know, when the experiment you had participated in went completely awry, the military went into action to make sure it did not go any further. We, as in the government, did our best to conceal the fauna in their current location…" Gman sighed. "But we could not, and they continued to stay in the same condition that they would on Xen. So, I took matters into my own hands…I called in Black Ops to finish the job. I had them set up a missile, but a Marine failed to obey his primary orders, and shut down the damn thing." He seemed furious, but calmed down again. "So, I decided to go there, and restart the missile myself, which I successfully did. However…it did not quite work as I had planned…yes, it did blow up, as you'll see here."

Gordon watched on, longing to go back to the day before any of this had happened. These past years have ruined his life, and dammit, he wanted it back. However, once again, his dream was shattered. In seconds, Black Mesa, the laboratory which he once called home, was engulfed in a gigantic, artificial, deadly blaze. Gordon, blinded by the flash that the bomb gave off, looked to the right. There, he saw a figure of the past. A helicopter, which not only included the Gman, but also a marine, had just flown by.

* * *

_Gordon was standing in a gigantic, technical room. A scientist, who was working above him, was frantically trying to get the portal to work._

"_Almost there, just hold on…" he was working frantically, knowing that Gordon was their last hope. He HAD to get through the portal in order to survive._

_Gordon, meanwhile, was fighting off natives to Xen, which was the planet that the Black Mesa scientists had used as an apex for teleportation, and was also the source of all their problems. These aliens possessed extraordinary psychic powers, and were launching bright, orange orbs at Gordon, trying to prevent him from going to their home world. From SMG to shotgun to magnum to crossbow, Freeman was doing everything in his power to keep himself safe. Seconds seemed like minutes, minutes like hours. What he was doing right now was never mentioned in the poor physicist's contract._

"_NOW GORDON!" exclaimed the lab worker. "Go through the gate now!"_

_The portal was open, and Gordon did as he was told. He ran for his way out of New Mexico, and as he did, a door behind him opened. Behind it was a single Marine, in a gas mask that he would never forget. As he looked back, he saw the soldier pull the trigger of his own submachine gun. Gordon did not care, because as soon as he did, he went right into the portal, never to see the interior of the now infamous New Mexican lab again.

* * *

_

"…Gordon, are you listening?"

The physicist had drowned out from reality, and was now back. He quietly and hastily opened is eyes to find that he was back where he started, in that black, dark space away from the world that he used to believe was his own.

"Now, Black Mesa is still in existence. After the blast, the fauna THRIVED! It seems that the nuclear fallout nourished the plants, something which we did not know about. These plants allowed the headcrabs, icthyosaurs, and all of the other fauna from Xen to flourish. This brought the Combine. They knew that the conditions on Xen could survive on Earth with these recent events, and now…" the agent sighed. "They colonized it. Using Black Mesa as a base, they invaded the Earth, with the help of those 7 people. Black Mesa is not only a breeding ground for headcrabs and such, but is also City 3, the Combine capital of the earth. Your assignment is to do whatever you did in City 17…just 6 more times. Simple enough, no?"

Gordon then saw himself fade away in the darkness.

"When and where it will end…well, as I said before, I'm not quite at liberty to say."

The Gman then disappeared from Gordon's sight once again.

* * *

**Well, hopefully you all find this as an improvement over Truth. Please send all comments **


	2. Tremendous Bounty on the Seas

Chapter 1: Tremendous Bounty on the Seas

Yet again, the One Free Man thought he was stranded. Back in the darkness that was an unknown realm, he stood there, not moving. Then, images of ice, deserts, canyons, forests, islands, and other things filled through his head in a tremendous motion. The darkness would then become light…

Dr. Freeman would later wake up in an infirmary. Many sick bodies, some with limb busted, others sick or dying, some already dead. The smell of rubbing alcohol filled the sea air…

"Dr. Freeman! You've awaken!" said an overlooking nurse. She was well in her thirties, and had a pale skin. Nothing else was really outstanding about her, except that she wore a black dress instead of the normal white one. "Captain O'Connor would like to speak with you soon! You're the most important piece to our invasion of City 23! Please, come with me."

The physicist slowly got out of the cramped room. It was filled with medicine of all kinds, including a new treatment for scurvy, which didn't exist before. Posters of the Lambda symbol on the wall were everywhere, reminding him of that faithful day that would forever change the fate of the world.

Outside of the infirmary, Gordon discovered a vast body of water, one like he had never seen before. He had never seen an ocean, or a sea for that fact, so this sight was a welcome change to the usual bland atmosphere at MIT and Black Mesa. The serene waves and "CAW!" of the birds calmed him down, as it would any man. The smell of the salty water was refreshing compared to the industrial air from City 17. Truly, this was a stressed man's paradise.

On the front deck of the boat waited an old scruffy man. A nice-sized scar was on his face, easily identifiable as a wound from a sheath knife due to the heaviness it had. His brown hair and beard were starting to turn gray on the top. His eyes seemed tired, like they belonged to a man in much need of rest, like Freeman's eyes. He may be old, but he seemed to have a sense of style and charm that any European man had. Must be French, thought the doctor.

"Ah, Gordon Freeman!" exclaimed the aging man. Gordon was wrong; his accent was clearly Irish, just like his name.

"I'm truly; truly happy to see you awake. Being one of the only ones to survive the New Mexican tragedy already made you famous, but single-handedly destroying City 17's power core AND Wallace Breen at the same time! That, my friend is legendary!"

The doctor smirked, feeling a sense of pride and joy that he felt very little of after the disaster in Black Mesa. After all, he carried out the experiment; so naturally, he thought he was one of the ones responsible.

"Now where were we…oh yes!" shouted the sea captain, still happy at the sight of the lone physicist in the orange vest. "Well, as you must know by now, there are other cities, large ones just like City 17 out there. One's with Citadels of the same design…well, some of them." He continued on with his ramblings.

"Well, we are currently are en route to what you may know as Cairo. We now call it City 23, the Fuel Pipeline. This is the main source of petroleum for the Combine's Earthen Army. We take that whole city out; we literally demobilize the Combine…temporarily at least. Seeing as you destroyed a headcrab breeder and leveled a city's generator, I doubt you need a tutorial on how to kill." Yet again, the physicist smirked and nodded at this statement.

"Okay then," said the captain. "Let's get you stoc…"

Suddenly, the sound of cannons filled the air. Booms and bangs, each spilling out gunpowder by the pound, were coming from far away.

"BOUNTY HUNTERS!"

A relatively large ship could be seen from far away. A ship that was made of the finest quality steel and engines of the highest technology. They must have known, there was no other explanation.

They knew the man destined to undo his own mistake was on that ship. And they sure as hell wouldn't let him correct anything.

"MAN THE CANNONS! BLOW THAT SHIP TO THE DEPTHS OF DAVY JONES'S LOCKER!" O'Connor's voice filled the air in perfect unison with the screams from all of the crew. Men and women of diverse races were working together to bring down their bane. They must not let them get Freeman. They were told to only do one thing if the met the 1998 legend: Become a human shield.

Mortar cannons and machine guns filled the sound of the air. Splash after splash, sploosh after sploosh, water came up as did smoke. First the hunters were hit, and then the ship whose sole purpose was to protect one man got shelled. It seemed as if the fight would never end.

"Abandon ship!" Get off of this soon to be hellhole!" Yet again, O'Connor's voice filled the air, a perfect harmony to the sounds of mortars, cannons, and machine guns. "They just released a Breen…GET THE HELL OFF OF HERE!"

People were starting to jump overboard, including Freeman. It turns out that the "Breen" he was talking out was some huge missile…about the size of half a football field in length. Gordon knew perfectly what this missile was capable of. He took part in working on a similar, air based version of this. He knew an aqua version was being developed, but he didn't know how powerful it would be compared to the air version. They were capable of producing the same exact explosion.

"Long live the R.M.S. Kronos!" The words of Captain O'Connor would forever be remembered with this final moment. The Breen missile rammed into the ship, causing a massive explosion that rocked the whole Mediterranean from Turkey to Spain. O'Connor's body was dissolved by the explosion, along with the cruiser. Gordon was knocked out as well, not knowing what would happen for quite a bit.


End file.
